That is why Honda is a bigger company than Mercedes. They do decent quality (Hondas cost more than Kias), but at scale.
I worked for a "Mercedes-level" photographic equipment company for years. People were often quite surprised, when I told them the size of the company. It was like Roadhouse "I thought you'd be bigger."
Our prototypes were incredibly expensive. A $2,000 (retail) body prototype would be insured at half a million bucks.
I just find, in my experience, managers expect Mercedes-level quality, for Kia (not even Honda) prices, and (if you are lucky) mature Honda assembly line development speed.
That can lead to real Jurassic-scale disasters. If you want that level of quality, you need to plan for it.
I'm working on the app that I'm doing, because I was helping a friend of mine evaluate contractors for his dream.
The promises they made were absurd. After a couple of these, I just said "Screw it. I'll do it for you."
He'll be getting Mercedes quality, but he'll need to wait a bit longer for it. I am pretty good at doing damn good; damn fast.
But he also won't be paying a dime for it, so I think he's good with that.
>That is why Honda is a bigger company than Mercedes
I was curious if this was accurate. Here are some recent numbers for revenue and unit sales:
Honda -> $144B revenue
- 12.4M motorcycles, ATVs, etc.
- 3.3M automobiles
- 5.7M generators, small engines, etc.
Daimler -> $207B revenue
- 2.4M automobiles
- 0.5M trucks
- 0.4M vans
- 0.03M buses
So, Daimler seems to be about 40% larger in revenue, but Honda sells almost 40% more automobiles. But 2.4M automobiles for Daimler seems like it's still comparable in scale.
Honda seems to still be largely a motorcycle and small engine company, in the global picture, while Daimler has a substantial business in heavy duty commercial vehicles including nameplates that aren't necessarily associated with Mercedes by the average person.
That is why Honda is a bigger company than Mercedes. They do decent quality (Hondas cost more than Kias), but at scale.
I worked for a "Mercedes-level" photographic equipment company for years. People were often quite surprised, when I told them the size of the company. It was like Roadhouse "I thought you'd be bigger."
Our prototypes were incredibly expensive. A $2,000 (retail) body prototype would be insured at half a million bucks.
I just find, in my experience, managers expect Mercedes-level quality, for Kia (not even Honda) prices, and (if you are lucky) mature Honda assembly line development speed.
That can lead to real Jurassic-scale disasters. If you want that level of quality, you need to plan for it.
I'm working on the app that I'm doing, because I was helping a friend of mine evaluate contractors for his dream.
The promises they made were absurd. After a couple of these, I just said "Screw it. I'll do it for you."
He'll be getting Mercedes quality, but he'll need to wait a bit longer for it. I am pretty good at doing damn good; damn fast.
But he also won't be paying a dime for it, so I think he's good with that.